


Mesmerizing

by SingingInTheRaiin



Category: X-Men - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, War, burning bloody clothes and walking away before making sure they're completely burnt, controlling actual ghosts, ghostly possession seems like an invasion of privacy, mutant who doesn't wanna be a mutant cliche, pietro's name is peter in this, running away to join the circus cliche, some people don't get along well with other people, very powerful mutant
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-31
Updated: 2018-05-26
Packaged: 2019-04-16 06:44:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 18,758
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14159064
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SingingInTheRaiin/pseuds/SingingInTheRaiin
Summary: Vera ran away when she was five in order to protect her mother from the terrible ordeal of raising a mutant child in a town of mutant haters. She ends up with her own psychic act at a famous traveling carnival, where she is approached by both sides of a growing war, both wanting her to side with them. Because whoever she chooses will surely be the winning side.





	1. Chapter 1

Lola knew that her daughter was different from the moment she had opened her eyes as a newborn. They looked like portals to outer space, and they were beautiful, like two little galaxies had somehow been captured and turned into eyes. And when people looked into Vera’s eyes, they felt like they were seeing the entire universe itself, and getting them to look away was almost impossible. Even as a baby her eyes were like a drug, one good look was never enough, and people were always trying to find excuses to look again.

That problem had pretty much taken care of itself. Vera’s unique eyes, while obviously very good for looking at, weren’t as useful in the department of actually seeing. The girl’s eyes were extremely sensitive to light, so she constantly wore sunglasses, even indoors. And Lola wasn’t going to argue, since that was a good form of protection against people glancing at those eyes.

But somehow, despite those bizarre eyes, Lola had never expected anything else unusual to happen, at least not concerning her daughter. It made sense when she reflected back on it later, that those eyes would be a sure sign of mutation. The eyes seemed to just be some kind of side effect, though, caused by her mutation. 

Lola had nearly had a heart attack the day she came home to find a bunch of strangers milling about her house. The babysitter was later found hiding in a closet. She quit immediately, without even asking for the money she was owed for the day, and she ran off before Lola had a chance to ask her what was going on.

Vera was sitting calmly on the rug in front of the television, though the set was off. Vera never watched TV because it was too harsh on her eyes. She was surrounded by the strange people, and it was then that Lola realized some of the people had their feet a few inches above the ground as the walked, and all of them were just a little bit see-through.

The poor woman had to force her voice not to tremble as she spoke to Vera from the doorway, not wanting to get any closer to the strange people. “Sweetheart, who are these people, and what are they doing in our house?”

Vera looked up, an uncertain look on her face. She didn’t want her mother to be displeased, but she was obviously proud of these people. “They’re uh… the people who used to live here.”

Lola gulped. “Honey, I’ve lived here for the past twenty years, and it was empty for several years before I even moved in. I don’t think any of the old residents could still be…”

Vera nodded up at one of the people. “Mom, I know what it means to be dead. These people are all dead.” She spoke with a matter of fact tone to her voice, like that part should be obvious. “I guess that makes them ghosts, right? Like the ones in Scrooge?”

Lola wanted to pass out right then, but she was too frightened of leaving her daughter alone with a house full of ghosts, even if they didn’t seem intent on harming anyone. Lola was surprised that her voice managed to sound so calm as she spoke. “Can you send them away, please?”

Vera nodded, and with that small action, every dead person vanished in less time than it takes to blink. Lola collapsed onto the couch with a sigh of relief, and closed her eyes. Vera stood up, and crawled onto her mother’s lap. The girl was only five, still small enough to fit there. She spoke softly, like she was wary of making Lola’s headache worse. “Mom? I know that you’re a little scared right now, but don’t be. They weren’t going to hurt anybody. This isn’t the first time that I’ve brought them here, so I know that they’re safe. It is the first time I let anyone else see them, though. I thought that my ‘sitter would be impressed, but I don’t think she was.”

The woman cracked her eyes open a bit. “I’m not sure how to explain this…”

The little girl shrugged. “I already know that you think if anyone finds out, they’ll try to hurt me. Don’t worry. If anything happens, my new friends will protect me. They like me because I’m their only real connection to the living.”

Lola frowned. “I didn’t say that-”

Vera rolled off of Lola’s lap, and onto the couch. “You don’t have to say something for me to know it. You don’t even have to think it. But it’s okay, I promise.”

After that, Lola suspected that Vera continued to summon her ‘new friends’ whenever her mom wasn’t home, but she never saw them again. At least not for several months. Or maybe they had been summoned, but they simply walked around invisible to everyone but Vera. Either way, Lola was grateful to not have to think about them too hard. But of course, the reprieve couldn’t last forever. 

They were walking down the aisle at the grocery store, and Lola was trying to reach something that was on the top shelf. As she was reaching for it, the box tipped over, and fell right into her hands. Lola was a little surprised, but she ignored it, thinking that it was caused by the breeze from the front doors of the store opening to admit another customer.

A few minutes later, Lola got to the deli section, and it was crowded. She took a number, and it was in the one hundreds, while the number on the board was only at fifty something. She groaned at the thought of how long it would take. 

Suddenly, everyone froze and all the chatter stopped as the half pound of ham and cheese that Lola had been planning on getting rose up of its own free will, and floated over the crowd of people. They watched silently as it landed in Lola’s cart. The woman glanced down, and saw that Vera had a thoughtful frown on her face.

Lola’s hand shot out, against her will, and slapped Vera right across the cheek, leaving a bright red mark. Her mouth opened, and words came out, things that she never would have said. “You freak!” She hissed. She begged herself not to keep speaking, and couldn’t figure out why she would be so cruel to her own daughter. “Why couldn’t I just have a normal kid? Why did I have to get stuck with someone like you? I wish that you could just leave me alone and stop ruining my whole life!”

Vera bit her lip, and she darted away, towards the exit. Lola stood there, dazed, as she was able to take control of her arms again. She realized that Vera had somehow made her do that, in order to protect her from the people. She wanted to turn and run after the girl, but her legs were frozen in place, and she literally couldn’t move them. Probably another gift from Vera. Lola wanted to scream that she hadn’t said those things, but she couldn’t open her mouth.

A few minutes later, Lola could move completely again, and she left the store to get into her car as quick as possible. It wouldn’t start, or maybe she was just too distracted to be doing the right things to turn it on, so she jogged home as fast as she could. She could tell as soon as she threw open the front door that Vera was gone, but she needed to check anyways. She ran up to her daughter’s room, and pushed the door open gently.

Vera’s backpack was gone, and when Lola looked closer, she could see that several articles of clothing were missing as well, along with the entire contents of Vera’s piggy bank, not that that could be more than a few dollars. Lola sank onto the small bed, and pressed the heels of her palms against her eyes. If she had ever wished that Vera was normal, it was because she knew that the life of a mutant was never going to be easy, and every parent wanted their children to have the best lives possible.

Lola wanted to call every police and news station in the area, to tell them that her kid was missing, and who knows what could happen to her out there. But Lola knew that was the wrong thing to do. Vera had been confident that her ghost friends would protect her, and Lola prayed to god that they would. The woman knew that this was what Vera wanted, and even if she could never give her daughter anything else for the rest of her life, she could at least give her this. But she also vowed to never let herself forget about her daughter, who had been the light of her life despite all of her oddities. Lola buried her face in her hands, and began sobbing loudly. The world wasn’t a fair place, and she hated every spiteful human who’d decided that mutants didn’t deserve to live the same lives as everyone else.

She could only hope that Vera would find a place that would finally accept her as she was.


	2. Chapter 2

**11 Years Later**

Peter took another long drag from the cigarette that was hanging loosely from his lips, then he pulled it out and flicked the remains into the nearest trash bin. He didn’t bother checking to see whether it had landed or not. He looked around, a silly grin on his face as he studied the carnival. It had been a while since he’d been able to just do something fun, without thinking about all of the bad stuff going on. And he could easily get back to the mansion before anyone even noticed that he was gone.

There was a medium sized dark purple tent, with a very long line. The sign above the curtain entranceway simply read, ‘Please wait’, and gave no indication of what attraction was so popular that people were willing to wait through such a long line. Someone stepped out of the tent, and he had a dazed look on his face. His eyes were glazed over like he was drunk, and he had a happy grin on his face. He smiled at the couple who was next in line. “We’re going to have a baby after all!”

The couple glanced at each other for a moment before congratulating the inebriated man, and Peter’s curiosity was piqued. It was difficult for him to stay still, but he didn’t want to run around and miss anything good. 

A few minutes later, the couple emerged from the tent, the same drunken look on their faces, along with dreamy smiles. Peter walked over to the next person in line. “Excuse me, but could you please tell me what everyone’s waiting for?”

The woman raised one eyebrow. “How could you not know who Madame Seer is?” Peter shrugged, and the woman rolled her eyes. “She’s only the best psychic in the country, probably in the world. They say that you should never enter her tent with secrets on your mind, because she’ll immediately know all of them. Everyone wants her to read them their fortunes. And then there are the few lucky ones who get to gaze into her eyes.”

Peter smirked. “That sounds…”

The woman shook her head. “No, it’s not as sappy or as weird as it sounds. It’s just… they say that her eyes are windows to another world, and it only takes one glance to get as hooked on them as you could on any drug.” Then she moved to go into the tent. “Sorry, but I don’t want to miss my turn. I’ve been waiting all day for this.”

Peter decided to stick around the carnival for a while, hoping that the line would eventually shorten so he could get a chance to meet this ‘psychic’. Not that he really believed she was the real deal, but if she was, that meant she had to be a mutant. Probably a telepath or something. And if she was, then it was Peter’s duty to explain the ways of the world to her, and take her back to the mansion, which was a safe haven for all mutants. Or at least advise her against so openly flaunting her mutation in a generally unaccepting world. Though it was funny that people had no problem accepting the thought of some carnival psychic, but not real mutants.

Even as it was getting dark, and the clean up crew began making their rounds, the line outside the tent was still rather lengthy. Someone left, and gave an apologetic look to everyone who was waiting around. “Sorry, but Madame Seer says that she cannot give any more readings today, and to come back tomorrow if you still wish to know your fortunes.”

There were grumbles of disappointment, but they all began to leave, and Peter ended up getting herded away with them. Peter contemplated running back onto the grounds, but decided that speaking to someone who was most likely a charlatan wasn’t worth the risk of getting arrested again. 

He began to walk away, figuring that if he started to run out of time, he could just sprint the last stretch. But for now, he felt more in the mood for walking at a normal pace. After a few minutes, he heard the sound of some whiny guy. “Come on, please! You’ve gotta let me-!”

Peter wouldn’t have paid any attention to it, if it weren’t for the response, that sounded like a distressed woman. “I told you no! Go away already!”

Peter dashed into the alley, and studied the scene before him. The same guy that had left the psychic tent with news of an expected child had a girl pressed up against a wall, her clothes disheveled. The man looked up in surprise when he heard Peter speak, since he obviously hadn’t heard the other man enter the alley. “I believe that the lady said no. So why don’t you just hurry along?”

The man looked back at the girl, who was standing there limply. Peter couldn’t tell what she was feeling, though, since there was a pair of dark sunglasses covering half her face. The girl spoke gently to the man who still hadn’t released her from his grasp. “Listen to me. I let you see the first time because I could see that it was something that you needed, more than others. But now this has gone too far, and you’re hurting me.”

The man stepped back, a shocked look on his face, and his eyes suddenly looked clear. He flushed with embarrassment, and turned to run away without another word. Apparently he hadn’t passed his ‘how to be a back alley mugger’ class if he was such a wimp. The girl made a sound of annoyance, and Peter stepped over to her. “Are you alright, miss…?”

She pulled away from him. “I don’t want there to be any misunderstandings between us. I could have taken care of him on my own, and because he only left after you scared him off, he’s probably going to come around again, and it’s your fault.”

Peter frowned. “A thank you would be nice.” He muttered to himself. 

The girl crossed her arms over her chest. Her words were dripping in heavy sarcasm. “Thank you so much, my hero. I would have surely perished without your help, brave Peter.” She mock-swooned, then straightened up, rolled her eyes in disgust and went on her way, slowly strolling back the way Peter had just come. A moment later, Peter jolted as he realized that she had just called him by name, and she froze in the same second. There was a mumbled, “Shit!” under her breath.

She began to run, pumping her arms and legs as fast as she could, and Peter was impressed. Against a normal person, she would have had a very good chance of winning the impromptu race, but Peter wasn’t a normal person. He zipped ahead and stopped right in front of her, watching her halt in her tracks, and stumble back. Peter grabbed her arm to help keep her steady. “How do you know my name?”

The girl shrugged. “I’m good at guessing people’s names just by looking at them?” From the way she asked rather than asserted, it was obvious she was grasping at straws, and the tone of her voice easily gave away the fact that she didn’t expect that excuse to actually work.

Peter shook his head. “Yeah, nice try. Well, at least tell me your name, so I’m not at quite a disadvantage.”

The girl rolled her eyes, then hesitantly looked up to stare at Peter. He was a good foot taller than her, but it still felt like she was looking down on him. “...Vera. Though I’m more commonly known by my stage name, Madame Seer.”

Peter arched one eyebrow as he found himself feeling quite curious about this situation. “I didn’t expect you to be so young.”

Vera shrugged, not looking offended. “I’ve been an apprentice under Madame Oracle for the past four years. She passed six months ago, and I’ve been the resident psychic ever since.” 

The man was still gripping her arm. “So then I guess you really are a mutant then?”

Vera tilted her head in confusion. “What are you talking about? I’m a psychic. A carnival psychic, actually, who is quite proud of her title.”

Peter snorted. “I don’t believe you.”

Vera grinned. “Alright, alright. The truth is, the whole thing is just a scam. There are suckers all over who are willing to pay for the stupidest stuff, and I’ve learned to take advantage of that. But obviously you’re too smart to fall for it. Congratulations, but sorry, no refunds.”

Peter shook his head. “It’s possible that you don’t even know you’re a mutant, but I doubt it. Not with the way you’re acting. So cut the crap. You can trust me, I’m like you.”

The teen shrugged. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Peter was beginning to get a little frustrated. “Why don’t you just-”

Vera pulled herself closer, yanking Peter down until their noses were only centimeters apart. “You listen here,” she hissed. “I’m not a mutant. I’m not some pathetic freak.”

Peter let go of her arm, and frowned. “Freak? Are you saying that we’re freaks because we’re different?”

Vera shrugged. “Is a butterfly considered a freak among the caterpillars?”

Peter wasn’t sure what that was supposed to mean, so he decided to get back to the topic at hand. “You need to come with me. I promise, it’ll be safe, and you won’t have to worry about anyone hurting you. There’s someone who would love to talk to you about what you can do. I’m not saying you’d have to stay there forever, but I really think you should at least come for a few minutes so that you can get the run-down on the area, and possibly on yourself.”

Vera shook her head. “No thanks. I think that I’ll just head home.”

“The circus?” Peter sounded awed. He’d never thought about the fact that the people in a traveling carnival actually lived there. The idea of not having a home in one single place seemed quite strange to him. And he couldn’t help thinking that it didn’t seem like a healthy way for a young mutant to live, since there was always the risk of wandering into a very intolerant town. And he was excited to introduce her to Charles. She’d be his first rescue case. “No way. You’re coming with me-” He reached for Vera’s hand, but she pulled back just in time.

She frowned. “‘I believe that the lady said no. Why don’t you just hurry along?’”

Peter frowned, but he knew that there was really nothing he could do. He couldn’t force someone to make the sensible decision and go to where it was safe. That would just be kidnapping, unfortunately. He gulped. “Fine, but if you ever change your mind, I’m sure you’ll know where to find us. Just ask for the mutant school, and anyone in town will immediately know what direction to send you in.”

Vera watched as Peter zoomed away, showing off to her. She chuckled lightly. It hadn’t even occurred to the man until she’d said something that she lived with a traveling circus, and it had already been in this town for a couple of weeks. Tomorrow was their last day, and they would begin packing up as soon as closing time rolled around. They would all be gone before the next morning, and she wouldn’t have to see that annoying guy again.


	3. Chapter 3

Vera turned around, and began to walk back to the fairgrounds. She contemplated having one of her ghosts possess Peter to stop him from being able to tell his friends about her, but finally decided against that. She would be gone by the time he thought to return, and she would never have to worry about him again. And it would be cruel to leave someone possessed forever just for her own selfish reasons. Vera didn’t consider herself a good person, but she didn’t think of herself as a bad person either, and doing something like that would tilt towards the bad side of the fence. 

Vera couldn’t wait to get back to her trailer, where she could finally take off her sunglasses after a long day without worrying about anyone seeing, or any light giving her migraines. Once she got to the end of the alley, someone jumped out, and pinned her to the wall. It was that same guy from earlier again. She’d known he’d be back, but she’d hoped that he wouldn’t be. 

The girl rolled her eyes, even though she knew that he wouldn’t be able to see that small action. “What’s your problem, dude?” She took a deep breath. It would be so easy to have one of her ghosts possess him. Whenever they possessed a person, they had complete control over them, and she had complete control over her ghosts. Possession was how she had saved her mother over a decade ago. And her ghosts were generally invisible to regular humans, so she wouldn’t have to worry about him seeing. Most people could only see them when Vera wanted them to be able to see.

But in the end, it came down to the same moral debate that Vera had had with herself many times before. It just seemed so wrong to completely take over a person’s entire body, and leave them with no control over what they said and did. Even if said person was trying to get another look at her eyes, like some kind of junkie.

The guy pulled out a knife, and pressed it up against Vera’s neck. “Please, just one look. Just one look, and I’ll leave you alone, I promise!” Vera knew that it was an empty promise, though. If she gave him that one look, then he would never stop wanting more. Maybe he’d try to cut out her eyes; there had been others in the past who had threatened to do just that. Vera shuddered at the thought. 

There was a blur and Vera’s hair and dress whipped to the side from the sudden burst of strong wind. Vera repressed the urge to groan. That guy, Peter. He had already been leaving, so what was he doing coming back so soon? Peter zipped back, and shoved the stranger aside, his knife nicking the side of Vera’s neck before he fell. Peter grabbed Vera’s hand, and pulled her away without any warning.

She had the good sense to tuck her head into Peter’s shoulder so she wouldn’t get a really bad case of whiplash. He brought her to a cheap motel, and took her into what was probably his room. He sat her down on the bed, then dragged a chair over, and sat across from her. Vera kept one of her hands pressed to the cut on her neck.

Vera rolled her eyes. “Seriously? What’s this about?”

Peter sighed. “Well, I had decided to stay in the motel for the night so I would be able to go to the circus tomorrow as soon as it opens. Then it occurred to me that you never actually mentioned how you know my name, so I was going to ask you before you went somewhere I wouldn’t know to look, and I happened to save your life.”

Vera raised one eyebrow. “Again, I would have been perfectly fine. And like I told you before, it’s your fault that he came back. If you had given me a chance to ask him to leave my way, then he would have left for good.”

Peter frowned. “Why haven’t you taken your hand away from your neck? Did you get whiplash or something?” He grabbed her wrist to tug her hand away, and he saw the blood there. He sighed. “Alright, maybe I shouldn’t have pushed him away quite so hard.” He stood up. “Wait right here, I’ll grab the first aid kit.”

Vera rolled her eyes, but she stayed. Mostly because she had no way of outrunning the man, even if she caught him by surprise, and also, she had no idea how to stitch up any wounds, let alone one that was on herself; one that she couldn’t even see without a mirror.

Peter returned a moment later, and sat down on the bed next to Vera. “This is going to hurt. A lot,” he warned. At least he was honest. He pulled out a needle, a spool of thread, and a bottle of antiseptic. He snapped on a pair of rubber gloves, and poured some of the solution onto a piece of gauze. He pressed it lightly to the wound, and Vera jumped up with a screech. She hadn’t even been able to feel the injury before, but she definitely could now. The man sighed. “I did warn you. But I have to do this. Otherwise you’ll get infected, or worse, bleed to death. Is that how you want your life to end?”

Vera glared at him, but the effect was ruined by the tears in her eyes. “Yes, if the only alternative is letting a complete stranger patch me up.” She glanced down and saw the blood dripping all over her dress, and she scrunched up her nose. “Shit,” she whispered to herself. She looked ready to cry. 

Peter stood up. “Listen, I know that it hurts, but there’s nothing I can do to help with that.” He was used to working with people who got injured on a daily basis, and were able to handle their pain. Not a child who had probably never gotten worse than a scraped knee.

Vera sniffled, and sat back down on the edge of the bed. “Fine, but do it fast.”

Peter wasn’t exactly trained in speed sewing, and he didn’t want to make things worse by rushing and messing up. But he nodded, and sat back down as well. Vera couldn’t hold back her loud sobs when Peter pressed the gauze back to the torn skin, but she managed to keep still, or as still as possible in this situation.

When it came to the stitching her shut part, she was straight up crying and screaming. Peter hoped that no one tried to check in to see what was going on. It sounded like Peter was murdering her, even though it was quite the opposite. When he was finally done, he cut the string, and rubbed more antiseptic over the stitches. Then he taped one of those white bandage squares over the wound, and stepped back.

The girl was clenching her hands into fists so hard that little droplets of blood were beading from her palms. She sniffled, and tried to scrub away her tears without shifting her sunglasses. Peter felt bad even though he’d just saved her life. “Uh, why don’t you take a shower to get clean?”

Vera nodded, but didn’t say anything. Peter grabbed his small overnight bag, and pulled out an extra tee shirt. She took it, and went into the bathroom. He heard the shower running a moment later. Peter kept out another bandage, since he would have to replace the one that was getting soaked right now, but packed up the rest of the first aid kit.

There was a knock at his door, and Peter peered through the peephole, sincerely hoping that it wasn’t the police. He saw a familiar head of red, and opened the door to let in his twin. She heard the shower immediately, and narrowed her eyes at her brother. “Is this really the best time to be having your one night stands? You scared us all half to death.”

Peter furrowed his eyebrows. “You should have just had Charles locate me.”

Wanda rolled her eyes. “He wasn’t sensing anything, Peter! We thought that you had died! I only found you here because I know you so well. We need to get out of here, now.”

Peter shook his head. “You don’t understand. She’s one of us.”

Wanda tilted her head. “What’s her mutation? Does it have anything to do with the fact that Charles couldn’t find you?”

Peter shrugged sheepishly. “I’m not sure. I barely know anything about her at all.”

The shower stopped, and the bathroom door opened a moment later. Vera stepped out, wearing just Peter’s shirt, which was way too big on her, and had her wet hair hanging down her back. For some reason, she was still wearing those unnecessarily large sunglasses. She raised one eyebrow, though the twins couldn’t see it. “Who’s this, Peter?”

Peter sighed. “Uh, Vera, this is my sister Wanda. Wanda, this is Vera.”

Wanda made an exaggerated gagging noise. “Isn’t she a little… I don’t know… young for you?”

Vera laughed. “Are you kidding me? I would never hook up with someone so old. I’m only here because your brother felt obligated to help me after I was injured because of him.” She drew back her hair, so that Wanda could see the stitches.

Vera disappeared into the bathroom again, to re-emerge with her blood soiled dress. Wanda gasped. “What happened?”

Vera rolled her eyes. It seemed pretty obvious to her what had happened. Maybe these two were just a little slow. “I was attacked. Your brother thought he was doing me a favor by coming to my rescue. He insists that I’m a mutant freak like you, even though I’m not. So if we’re done here, I’d really like to go home now, before my family gets worried and calls the police.”

Wanda sighed, not looking as offended as she had the right to. “Alright, where do you live? I’ll drive you.”

Vera scoffed at the offer. She was in pain, and angry, which meant her control over her abilities would be a little off her game. Being trapped in a car with her would certainly end with one or both of them dead. “No thanks, I think that between the two of you, you’ve already done enough.” She sighed, and held up the crumpled cloth in her hands. “This was my favorite dress.” Then she turned and slipped her shoes on, and left the motel room. She could only hope that she’d be leaving those two freaks far enough behind so that she’d never have to see them again. She was content with her life, and didn’t want anyone trying to interfere.


	4. Chapter 4

Vera wanted to turn around and give the middle finger to the car that was being completely obvious about following her. But she wasn’t going to give them the satisfaction of admitting that she was tired or irritated, so she kept walking at the same even pace. Her glasses slipped down the bridge of her nose, and she had to shove them back up just to keep them on. If either of twins were wondering about her wearing glasses as it was getting dark out, neither of them let on.

Vera didn’t want to appear crazy by seemingly talking to herself, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t summon a ghost just for the company. It was chilly, and she was wearing nothing but a bloody dress over a stranger’s tee-shirt. Admittedly, she’d had weirder nights, but this was definitely one of the top ten strangest.

A moment later, a young man with unruly brown hair appeared next to her. His large glasses gave his eyes an owlish appearance, and his vest and slacks made him look out of place. Luckily, no one else could see him. The man raised one eyebrow. “Hey, is everything okay?”

The girl decided that if she talked quietly, the two in the car wouldn’t know the difference. She sighed. “Well, my favorite dress is ruined, as you can clearly see. And a pair of mutants is following me. And apparently there’s a mutant nearby who can detect the presence of other mutants. But I don’t think he could detect me. Like I’m dead, or something.”

The man shrugged. “Well, maybe when you play with the dead enough, it really messes with you.”

Vera rolled her eyes. “Well, I’m certainly glad that you’ve figured everything out. Now I have all the answers, and everything is so perfect. Thanks, Dad.”

He let out a sound of exasperation, but Vera could tell that he wasn’t actually bothered. “I feel like this isn’t the level of respect that you should be showing your father, dead or not.”

Vera shrugged. “It’s not like you have any way of enforcing the rules.”

The man tried to look insulted, but the corners of his mouth twitched up as he gasped dramatically. “Ouch, that hurts. That really hurts me, you know. If there was any possible way for a person to hurt their ghostly father, then it would be in the way that you just hurt me.”

Vera rolled her eyes. “See, this is why I have the advantage of other teenagers. Other people my age are stuck with their parents, and that’s just how it goes. But me, I can banish you and bring you back whenever I want. So go ahead and keep up the attitude. If you want to go to timeout, that is.”

The man laughed. “Geez. If I only I had met you sooner. I would have been able to raise you so much better than this.”

Vera shook her head. “Are you crazy? For us to have met sooner, you would have had to have died sooner. And I get the bizarre feeling that dying wasn’t exactly on your ‘to do’ list.”

Roger nodded. “Admittedly, that’s true. But I don’t know. I can’t help thinking about it sometimes. I think that if you had needed me enough, I would have been willing to die for you.”

The teen sighed. “Are you dumb on top of being crazy? If you knew me enough to know that I’m your daughter, and that I needed you, wouldn’t you have just approached me on your own? While being a living, breathing human being?”

Roger laughed. “You get that attitude from your mother.” A small frown appeared on his face as he contemplated the past. Apparently Vera was more similar to her father than she had ever thought possible. When the mutant had found out that he got his human girlfriend pregnant, he had immediately broke up with her and ran away, in order to protect her and the child. He just hadn’t expected the child to take more after him, and become a freak who would have to run away to protect her mother.

The man stared wistfully down at his hands. “I was once able to tear holes in the fabric of space.”

Vera let a soft smile plague her. She had heard the stories a thousand times. About how her father had been able to create black holes, but they were so dangerous, he only ever made three in his lifetime. And luckily they had all been small enough that he repaired them before any real damage was done.

But even in a mutant loving community, that would have made Roger feel that he was too dangerous to be around other people. If he ever got too emotional, there was always the risk that he would lose control of his powers, and create an anomaly large enough to suck in an entire town. Or maybe even an entire planet. It was hard to say for sure what the exact scope of his powers were.

But Vera wasn’t dumb. She knew that despite the fact her father recognized how dangerous his power was, he still missed those euphoric moments where his hands had changed something about the universe, in a way that almost no one else could. But the teen wasn’t in the mood for teary eyes and a conversation about tragic losses.

So she blinked, and the ghost of her father was gone. Vera walked in silence the rest of the way back to the fairgrounds. By the time she had arrived, everything had already been shut down, and she had to go through the employee entrance out back to get inside. Vera made her way to her trailer, carefully making sure not to bump into any of her carnie family.

At first, Donovon, the resident ringmaster, had been reluctant to hire on the young girl. But she had proved that she had talent, and besides that, she fit the one other requirement that everyone else in the circus did. None of them had families, and all of them were lost in some way or another. So after the initial awkwardness, the friendly group had taken her in, and she became a part of the family. They all looked out for each other, and cared for each other, and they made the perfect family.

Luckily though, there weren’t many people still out. Mostly just the technicians and such, making sure that all of the lights and rides were properly turned off, and a couple people going around to clean up all the trash. Vera hurried back to her trailer, and slammed the door shut behind her once she was inside. 

She tossed her sunglasses onto her dresser, and rubbed her eyes tiredly. The teen debated just collapsing onto her bed immediately, but that wouldn’t really do. She peeled off her favorite dress, which was now caked with a fine film of reddish-brown dried blood, and let it fall into a crumpled heap on the floor. Then she yanked off Peter’s tee-shirt, and let it fall on top. 

Even though she had showered just a little over an hour ago, Vera hadn’t been very thorough, and she hadn’t had any of her own shower products to use. So she hopped in, and scrubbed herself down completely. 

Once she was done, and dressed in her own cozy pajamas, Vera stared at the discarded clothing lying on the floor. She didn’t appreciate how it messed up the otherwise neat looking trailer, and she also didn’t want to hold onto those reminders of this crappy city. 

So she scooped the clothes into a small bag, along with a bottle of nearly scentless perfume, and a box of matches. She stepped into a pair of flip flops, and went outside. She left the circus grounds, not wanting to get caught, or get anyone else in trouble. She went down to the waterfront, and dumped the offensive items out onto the gritty sand.

Sadly, just throwing the stuff away would make it look like some crime scene gone wrong. And at least this way, no one would be able to track her. Vera unscrewed the top to the perfume bottle, and dumped the entire contents over the shirt and the dress. Then she lit a few matches at once, stepped back, tossed them at the fabric mound, and left. She was already tired, and if she wanted time to sleep, then she wouldn’t be able to watch the clothes burn completely. But it would be fine, because the circus would be gone soon, and Vera would move on, and everything about this town would be nothing more than a bad dream.


	5. Chapter 5

Peter sighed at the raised eyebrows of Charles, who was sitting in front of him. Charles sighed when Peter didn’t actually say anything. He rolled out and around his desk so that he was able to look Peter right in the eyes, displaying his full confusion. “Why exactly are you showing me charred clothing?”

Wanda finally decided to speak up. “We got it before the owner finished burning them. Professor, she’s a mutant.”

Charles shook his head. “No, that’s impossible. I think I would have detected a new mutant moving in so close to us.”

“She was an act in the traveling carnival. A ‘psychic’ act. It was rather impressive to watch her in action. I think that she’s very powerful for sure. But I also thought it was strange that you hadn’t detected her. And that you couldn’t detect me while I was with her.”

Charles tilted his head, a puzzled look on his face. “Alright. I’ll pay this girl a visit in the morning. You know, once it’s actually a reasonable time for people to be awake? And I’ll try and get a read on her. What’s her name, by the way?”

“Vera. It could just be a fake name, but I don’t think it is.”

Charles nodded. “And what exactly is her mutation?”

Peter glanced at his twin, then shrugged. “I’m not exactly sure. She knew my name even though I’d never said it to her, and when you couldn’t sense me and thought I was dead, that was when I was with her. I’m not really sure what those two things equal, but I know she’s a mutant. There’s just something about her that can’t be explained any other way.” He paused. “Oh- and there is one other thing. Some guy who kept attacking her said that he was trying to look at her eyes. And when someone came out of her tent, he looked like he was high or something. I haven’t gotten the chance to actually see her eyes for myself, though, because she’s always wearing sunglasses, even at night.”

Charles nodded in dismissal of the twins. “Thanks you for bringing this matter to my attention. For now, it’s probably best for you to keep this between us. I don’t like to worry the younger kids when there’s a problem that could be dealt with. And I wouldn’t want to frighten this girl if she really does need our compassion and understanding.”

* * *

Vera smiled as she pushed her sunglasses back into place, once again obscuring her eyes from the person in front of her. The woman looked dazed, which was a normal reaction. Vera tilted her head. “Now, what is it you wish to know from Madame Seer?”

The woman sighed. “I need to know if my husband is really cheating on me.”

Vera closed her eyes for a moment, and when she opened them, there was a tall man standing behind the woman. She nodded at the man almost imperceptibly, and he pressed his transparent hands to the sides of the woman’s head. A moment later, he looked up. “She doesn’t care about whether or not her husband is cheating. She just thinks that if he is it’ll make her feel better about her own extramarital affairs.”

Vera looked at the woman. “Madame Seer sees many things. I see that you are not concerned with your husband’s infidelity as much as you are with your own. It is never alright to break the sacred vows of marriage. If you do not wish to be his wife anymore, then it is time to speak with him.” She sighed. “That is all that Madame Seer can say. The rest is up to you. I hope you use this information wisely.”

The woman stood up, a dark red flush on her cheeks. “You think that I would cheat on my husband? I would never do such a thing! I love him! And don’t you dare talk to me about marriage! You’re way too young to know anything about it, you self-righteous bitch!” She leaned forward and slapped Vera across the cheek.

The slap had left a sharp sting across Vera’s cheek, but she didn’t react. She had learned a long time ago that she needed to learn to control her emotions in order to control her abilities. So as much as she wanted to snap at the woman and shout back, she knew that that would not end well. She just sat there, still sitting perfectly upright, a calm expression on her face.

Luckily, someone had heard the woman’s furious screams, and he slipped in through the back of the tent. It was Shaun, who was probably the most talented gymnast that Vera had ever met before. He could probably be in the Olympics, if it weren’t for the fact that he only had one arm. It was rather unfair that he was discriminated against for something that was so out of his control, but at least it meant that Vera had gotten the opportunity to meet him, so she couldn’t be too mad.

Shaun approached the woman cautiously, his hand held up. “Hey, calm down. There’s no reason to get so upset. This is a carnival, it’s supposed to be all in fun. I’m sorry that you feel upset with what you’ve been told, but you really shouldn’t have come here with such a serious question in mind if you didn’t want to hear the answer. Now if you’ll just come with me, I’ll take you somewhere where you can calm down-”

The woman scowled. “Don’t bother treating me like I’m in kindergarten or something. I think I can show myself the way out.” She turned and stomped out of the tent. Vera looked up at Shaun gratefully. He could tell that that was her look, despite the fact that her glasses covered most of her face.

Vera smiled. “Thanks for coming to my rescue, Shaun. You’re definitely my prince charming. My knight in shining armor. Oh where would I ever be without you by my side?”

Shaun chuckled. “Come now, I would never let any harm befall you, m’lady. If you were to get hurt, how would you ever repay all of your poker debts?”

Vera laughed. “Come on, are you really still going to hold that against me? I played you years ago, you shouldn’t still be so stuck up on all of this.” 

Shaun shrugged. “Hey, you’re the one who racked up such an impressive debt that you’d owe me for the next several hundred years. I can’t help it if you suck at cards.” Of course that was an exaggeration, since Vera had paid off her debts ages ago, but she knew that he was only teasing her. 

Vera snorted and stuck out her tongue. “I suck at cards? If you’re not playing me, then you’re guaranteed to lose.” She sighed. “So, what would you have done if that crazy lady had refused to leave?”

Shaun shrugged. “Oh, I don’t know. I mean, she was absolutely bonkers. I’d probably get scared, and I’d be forced to run away screaming, leaving you to…” He trailed off as his eyes landed on Vera’s neck. He rushed forward, and knelt down so that he could inspect the area closer. He carefully felt along the stitches, then looked up to meet Vera’s eyes. Or at least to meet her sunglasses. “What happened?”

Vera gulped. It hadn’t even occurred to her to bother trying to cover up her neck, since she didn’t think that anyone would see it as that big of a deal. “Oh, just another one of those crazy guys who thinks that he can take advantage of me when I’m on break. You know the sort. They wait outside until you leave, and then they attack you. He held a knife to my neck, but I’m sure that he regrets it now.”

Shaun sighed, and stood back up. “You were wearing your favorite dress yesterday. Does this mean that it’s no good anymore?”

Vera nodded apologetically. “I’m really sorry, Shaun. I know how hard you worked on finding me the perfect dress, and I know that you mostly made that one yourself, despite having your own costumes to sew up and stuff. And to think, I let it all get ruined for a few specks of blood.” She couldn’t help feeling a little surprised that the man had even paid enough attention to know that she’d been wearing her favorite dress, but it made her happy to know that there was someone who cared about her. 

Peering at the stitches, Shaun raised one eyebrow. “You’re saying that an injury this big only left a few drops of blood behind? I don’t think so. This had to have been gushing. Did you have to go the hospital? And what did you do to your attacker to make him regret it?”

Vera raised one eyebrow over the edge of the glasses. “What makes you such an expert in wounds? I didn’t realize that you’d gone to medical school and taken over for Craig in the short amount of time that I’ve been stuck in this tent all day with boring people.” She sat up straighter. “Speaking of being in this tent, can you go send in the next customer? I don’t want people to think that I can’t handle one screamer.” She didn’t bother answering anything about the hospital or her attacker, since there was no point in carelessly incriminating herself in whatever mess had gone down last night.

Shaun nodded, though he looked like he was just waiting to bombard her with questions again later. He left the tent to go tell the next person in line that he could enter the tent. The man came inside, rolling in a fairly expensive looking wheelchair, and parked next to the chair that was across from Vera. He smiled, and held out one hand. “Hi, I’m Charles.”


	6. Chapter 6

Vera nodded politely at Charles, and gave him one of her best mysterious smiles. “And what can Madame Seer do for Charles?”

Charles had an intense gaze, and if Vera weren’t so used to people staring her in the eyes, she probably would have had to look away. But fortunately that wasn’t the case, so she was able to meet the stares, and raise one eyebrow high enough to be seen over the rim of her sunglasses. 

Charles cleared his throat. “Well first of all, you can tell me why I heard screams and shouts in here while I was still out there waiting in line.”

Vera smiled patiently. “It is unfortunate, but some people are not able to handle the truths that Madame Seer introduces them to. We can not all accept the world as it is, as sad or prepared as they may be. Were you frightened by the noise?”

Charles shook his head. “No, not frightened at all. Mostly just curious. I’m curious as to why you have so many people lined up out there, who are apparently willing to wait all day in the same line just to see you.”

Vera nodded. “It is our last day in town, and the people wish to visit their favorite booths one last time, before they are gone forever. But this is obviously your first time at our wonderful carnival, so perhaps the real question is what brought you here?”

Charles leaned forward in his seat to look closer at the ‘psychic’. He tilted his head to the side. “You look awfully young to be doing this. Do your parents know you’re here?”

At that, Vera’s eyes instinctively flicked up, though the motion was hidden by her dark sunglasses, and she spotted her father in the back of the tent. Roger raised one eyebrow questioningly, and Vera didn’t have to say anything for her father to understand her. Their silent communication was something that they’d come across as very natural after spending so much time together. 

Roger walked over to Charles, and as soon as he was a couple of inches away, the living man shivered. “Sorry about that, I just got a sudden chill.”

Vera didn’t let the annoyance show on her face. Even though they couldn’t see or hear them, the only people who could vaguely detect the presence of Vera’s ghosts without her assistance were other mutants. Vera was glad that this was their last day in this crazy town full of crazy people, and too many mutants to be comfortable.

If Vera had wanted to live among mutants, she would have found a private mutant community ages ago. But Vera had found her calling with the carnival right around the same time she had discovered that she really didn’t like mutants. They were either self-righteous pricks who couldn’t stop complaining about how oppressed they are, or they were ignorant idiots who were causing damage and hurting people without ever putting two and two together. Either way, Vera had found that she was much more comfortable around normal people, and even though no one knew about her abilities, she still had her ghosts to talk to so that she could never get too lonely.

Vera decided to employ one of the quickest methods she knew of that could be used to dispose of the annoying client in her tent. She’d used it several times before. Vera scrunched up her face and gently pressed the tips of her fingers to her forehead, looking as though she were really concentrating.

After a moment, she looked up at Charles apologetically. “I’m so sorry, but it would seem as if I am not able to see anything about you. You are shrouded in a dark mist, one that I do not believe can be penetrated. I am sorry for the trouble you went through to come here, only to walk away disappointed-”

Charles gave Vera soft smile. “Don’t worry, I got exactly what I came here for.” He back up his chair a few inches, and fished his wallet out of his pocket so that he could pay the girl. She accepted the money with a look of slight confusion on her face, but didn’t say anything else. Charles didn’t feel the need to add to the conversation either, so he hurried to roll away from the tent and the mysterious girl it contained.

* * *

He met back with the others at the manor after a few hours of wandering around the rest of the carnival, where he discovered nothing else unusual. There was a look of bemusement on his face. “Well, no matter what I tried, I couldn’t get anything out of her. Mentally, I mean. I’ve encountered strong minds before, thoughts that are fortified beyond my ability to read them, but this was different. It’s like she wasn’t even there. And all of the minds around her were also unreadable. Maybe she has the ability to hide the presence of anyone within a certain range of her?”

Peter shrugged. “Maybe. But then there’s also the weird thing with her eyes. I haven’t seen them myself, but they are obviously in pretty high demand. So what’s that all about?”

Charles looked slightly annoyed at the fact that he couldn’t figure out what was going on any better than the others could. And he had a very limited amount of time, since the whole carnival would be completely packed up tonight, and they’d either leave as soon as they finished or wait until morning, but either way, they were going to be gone before the end of tomorrow. 

Charles watched with some annoyance as Peter began pacing back and forth. At least he was going at a normal pace so that he wouldn’t literally wear a hole into the floor. He took a deep breath, though, and refrained from snapping at the younger man. It wasn’t just Peter who was feeling anxious in this situation. Any case of a stranger with an unknown mutation and unknown motivations was cause for concern. 

After a few minutes, Charles knew that he couldn’t stand the pacing, and he suddenly sat up straighter. “I forgot that I have something important to do.” He mentally berated himself for giving what was probably the lamest excuse in the book, but then silently congratulated himself for successfully getting out of there. The twins gave him strange looks, but he wasn’t going to stick around to explain what they already knew. 

As Charles left his office, and found himself standing out in the foyer, he sighed, then turned and started to head towards the elevator near the main staircase. But he was interrupted from reaching his destination by the sound of someone pounding urgently on the front door to the building. Charles immediately felt on edge, because he hadn’t felt anyone trip his mental barriers, which meant that he had absolutely no idea what he was up against. 

Charles rolled over to the door, concentrating, but he still couldn’t detect any presence of anybody out there. The twins must have heard the knocking as well, and how couldn’t they with the way the door was being pounded against? and they walked out into the hallway. 

Charles grabbed the doorknob, took a deep breath, and swung the door open. He blinked a few times, and frowned when he saw that nobody was there. A moment later, he shivered violently as a chill ran through his entire body, but it was gone in just a few seconds. 

Charles slammed the door shut and turned around, and saw that Peter and Wanda were giving each other nervous glances. Peter took a few steps forward. “Maybe I should do a quick sweep of the property. Make sure that no one’s around here who shouldn’t be.” He took off a moment later, leaving the front door wide open as he went. 

Less than a minute later, Peter was standing in the foyer again, this time with his hands tightly gripping the collar of a girl’s coat, though he was also carefully cradling the back of her head so that she wouldn’t be injured by being with him while he went at high speed. And the girl inside the coat was rather familiar. It was Madame Seer from the carnival, though she seemed almost unrecognizable now that she was wearing simple jeans and a sweatshirt, and the thick layers of circus makeup had been scrubbed off her face. Her eyes were still completely covered by those large sunglasses, though, which is what really gave her away.

Charles tried to look as comforting as possible, and he was grateful that he had such a non-threatening look about him. Being in the wheelchair never hurt his vulnerable image, either. The kid was already freaked out, and he didn’t want to make this any harder on her, whatever this was. 

The girl sniffled a few times, and didn’t even attempt to tug herself away from Peter’s grip, even after it had loosened. She peered up at Charles, and spoke softly, without all of the confidence that had been in her voice during their previous encounter. “Can you help me?”


	7. Chapter 7

Wanda, Peter, Charles, and the girl were now all sitting in Charles’s office. Charles gave her a gentle look. “What’s wrong?”

She sighed. “I came here to tell you guys to knock it off. I thought that you must be the ones who’ve been following me around. But then I realized that I wasn’t you when a bunch of guys in suits were the ones in the cars, and none of you seem to have any kind of fashion sense. I got here as quickly as I could, and it didn’t seem like they were willing to be on your property, but I didn’t want to take any chances, which is why I hid after knocking on the door, so they wouldn’t be able to spot me.” She curled up a bit, and wrapped her arms around herself. “I don’t know what to do.” She stuck out one hand towards Charles. “I’m Vera, by the way.”

Charles accepted the handshake, and then leaned back in his seat. “So how did you find this place?”

Vera buried her face in her hands, and her words came out muffled, but not enough to not be heard. “I know you’re one of those clowns, so I followed you back here.”

Charles gave her a curious look, but didn’t bother getting offended by the clown comment. He’d heard much worse before. “You know that I’m a mutant? But you don’t think that you are?”

Vera looked up and scoffed. “Of course I’m not a mutant. And obviously you being able to read minds means that you are one. I don’t even know any circus freaks who can do that. It’s more of a ‘real freaks only’ sort of talent.”

Peter cleared his throat. “Okay, but how did you know my name when I didn’t even tell it to you? And how did you know that the professor here is a telepath when no one said anything like that?”

Vera reached up to push up her sunglasses, since they’d begun to slide down the bridge of her nose a little bit. “Let’s just say that I have a few friends, and they’re mutants. They’re perfectly happy to give me information when I need it.”

Charles stood up, and then sat down in the seat next to Vera. “Alright, so I am a telepath, you already know that much. But normally, I can sense the minds of the people around me, but yours feels like it’s as good as belonging to a dead person in that it doesn’t even seem to exist. I’m curious; I want to know why that is.”

Charles glanced behind him when he realized that Vera’s attention had been drawn to something on the other side. But there was nothing there that would so interesting. When he looked back at Vera, she was actually almost smiling. Though as soon as she knew Charles was looking at her, she wiped the smile off of her face.

Vera suddenly stood up. “I don’t know what I was thinking by coming here. I just overreacted, got a little paranoid. It’s nothing that I can’t handle without the help of a few mutant freaks. I’m sorry to have wasted your time.” She turned to leave the office.

Charles spoke in a soft voice. “You looked very scared when you came here. Are you sure there isn’t something you think that we could do to help you?” He graciously decided to ignore the fact that she had the attitude of a mutant-hater, since he understood that she was really just a scared girl and not an actual bigot.

Vera shook her head. “No. I must’ve been mistaken.” 

As she walked away, Peter glanced at the professor with one eyebrow raised. “Do you want me to go after her?”

Charles shook his head. “No, you can’t do that. No one deserves to be held captive somewhere they clearly don’t want to be.” He shivered as he felt like someone was watching him, but when he turned around, there was no one there. He turned back to the twins. “It is odd how awful she looked coming here, but if she does want to go now, that’s entirely up to her. And since the carnival is leaving town by tomorrow, there’s no point in trying to seek her out again. She’ll move on with them, and she’ll be someone else’s problem.”

Peter nodded. “Okay.” His voice took on a wistful tone. “I almost wish that I could’ve gotten a glimpse of her eyes, though. I mean, from the way that everyone was looking at her after they’d seen, it must be like the greatest thing in the whole world.”

Wanda rolled her eyes. “You are an idiot, brother. You would not try drugs just because you see how happy they make other people, would you? And before you answer that, I’m just going to say that you’re a complete idiot, and I don’t actually care about your answer. I think that I’m going to go and take a nap now. I’m tired of listening to your voice.” She left the office, presumably heading up to her room.

Charles chuckled. “I think that your sister really enjoys insulting you whenever possible.”

“Yeah, and she always leaves before I have a chance to come up with something to say in return, so I always end up looking like a total loser. Which is totally not fair.” Then Peter’s tone shifted from whiny to serious. “Are we really not going to go after her? I mean, who knows what she’s capable of?”

Charles shrugged. “Whatever she may or may not be able to do, she’s been doing it since long before she got here, and will probably continue to do it long after. I don’t think that she really poses any threat to us, though. Which is why I think it’s for the best to just let her return to her home.”

Though that’s what Charles told his student, he still couldn’t help feeling like there was something watching him. Which was ridiculous, of course, because he’d be able to feel the mind of someone who was spying on him. Then again, he couldn’t detect Vera’s mind, despite seeing her living and breathing right in front of him. Which was certainly a bit unnerving.

What Charles was unaware of was that Vera hadn’t actually been upset when she’d dropped by the mansion. She’d been going in with a specific plan in mind. She needed to make sure that those mutants left her alone, and that they didn’t do anything that could upset the balance that Vera had always worked so hard to create.

Which is why she’d left behind one of her ghosts, to spy on Charles. He wouldn’t be able to detect it with his eyes or with his mind, and the ghost would be able to easily appear wherever Vera was if he felt the need to communicate something important. And in the meantime, Vera could go on with her life.

She headed back to the carnival, and saw that there was someone waiting on the front step of her trailer. She walked closer, and saw that it was Shaun. He perked up when he realized that Vera was approaching, and stood so that the girl would actually be able to unlock the door to her trailer. “Hey, what’s up?”

Shaun sighed. “I actually think that this is something that you might want to be sitting down for.” 

Vera shrugged and let herself and Shaun into her trailer. She plopped down on her bed, and patted the space next to her for Shaun to sit down as well. He looked extremely awkward, and Vera took pity on him. “So what’s this all about?”

Shaun sighed again. “Ugh, I hate that I was the one voted to tell you this, so I’m just going to say it. Your father somehow managed to track you down.” Vera furrowed her eyebrows, and looked up at where Roger was standing, looking equally surprised.

Vera shook her head. “But that’s literally impossible. My dad is dead. He has been for years.”

Shaun nodded. “I know. We talk often enough for me to at least know that much about you, even if the rest of your life is still a complete mystery. But this guy says that he won’t leave without meeting his daughter first. He’s got a picture of you as a little kid and everything.”

Vera crossed her arms over her chest. “Anybody could dig deep enough into my past to find some stupid picture of me.”

The man sighed. “Look, I know that. I get it, I really do. Most of us are here because we felt the need to run away from our lives for some reason or another. We generally don’t talk about it, because we all know that we’ve each got our own motivations. But when your past starts to catch up to you, the best thing that you can do is face it head on. And if it turns out that this guy is lying, and isn’t who he claims to be, we’ll be perfectly happy to escort him away from the grounds. We’re leaving soon enough, anyways, so he shouldn’t be a problem. Just meet with him at least once, okay?”

The girl rolled her eyes, but left the trailer, leaving Shaun to follow behind her. He pointed towards one of the picnic tables that hadn’t been packed up yet, and Vera saw that a few of her friends were standing around with menacing looks on their faces. Vera glanced back at her father, and he still didn’t seem to understand what was going on any better than she did.

Vera approached the table, and her friends slowly moved aside. There, sitting on the bench, was Vera’s father. He looked completely identical to Roger in every way, and Vera only needed to look up at the ghost to confirm that. The ghost walked closer to the living man, and the living man shivered, proving that he was a mutant, at least. Vera peered at her friends. “Would you guys mind giving us a little bit of privacy?”

They were reluctant to leave her alone with the guy who was clearly making her uncomfortable, but Shaun managed to pull them all away. Then Vera sat down across from the man who looked like her father, and she leaned forward to get a better look at him. Then she stared up at him from behind the safety of her sunglasses, waiting for him to speak first.

He must’ve gotten the hint, because he cleared his throat awkwardly. “I never thought that I’d get to meet my daughter.”

Vera frowned. “Well, that one’s on you. Next time you decide to walk out on your family, maybe you should stop to consider the fact that it means you won’t be able to see them again. Why are you here? How did you find me?” 

The man sighed, and pressed his fingertips together. “I realized that my reasons for running away were stupid. That I wanted to be able to see my family again. So I went back to see you, but your mother told me that you’d left years ago. I guess it must just run in the genes, huh? Anyways, it took a lot of work, but I was eventually able to track you down. I’m just glad that I managed to catch up with you before you move on again.”

Vera narrowed her eyes. “Your reasons for running away weren’t stupid. They were noble. There’s no reason for you to ever return. It’s not like you’re going to just forget what you can do. You’re not just going to forget how dangerous you can be if you lose control.” The man’s eyes widened slightly in surprise. “Oh come on, don’t act dumb. I already know all about your mutation.” Vera realized that the man in front of her, whoever he actually was, had no idea that her father was a mutant. Her eyes flared, though he wouldn’t be able to see that, and she slammed one hand down on the table. “Who are you really?”

There was a pause, and then the man shifted from being Roger to being a pretty young woman in about the time it took to blink twice. The woman cleared her throat. “You’re a lot smarter than I gave you credit for. I thought that you’d fall for the whole routine easily enough, since it’s not like you’ve ever actually met the man before.”

Vera looked over at the real Roger, who was still a ghost, and gave him an appreciative smile before looking back at the stranger. “I know a lot more than people usually give me credit for. You’re not the first person to think I’m dumb just because I’m young. But you still haven’t answered the question of who you are. And why are you here, pretending to be my dead dad?”

The woman sighed. “My name is Mystique. My friends call me Raven, though.”

Vera stood up. “Tell me what you’re doing here, Mystique, before I call my friends back over here. And trust me, the strongman wasn’t named so for no reason. He could rip your spine out through your stomach if he wanted to.”

Mystique seemed surprised by the sudden hostility and anger in Vera’s voice. “You’re a lot more violent than I thought you’d be,” she groaned. “I just thought that this was going to be some easy job, but you seem intent on making it all as difficult as possible. Listen, kid, I’m here because my employer wants to offer you a job.”

Vera immediately shook her head. “Tell your employer thanks but no thanks. I’ve already got a job that I enjoy just fine.”

The woman seemed a bit upset by that answer. “We’re trying to do good. We want to help bring down the humans so that mutants finally get the chance to rise up and be on top, the way that we were always meant to be. We weren’t born genetically superior just so that we can spend our entire lives being stepped on by people who are scared of us because they don’t understand why we can do what we can do. You’d make a very valuable addition to our fight. We always need more people, and we think that you-”

“Let me just stop you right there,” the girl interrupted, “Whatever the hell else I may be, I know that I’m certainly not another mutant freak. And the next person who mistakes me for one is going to have to run for their lives to get away from me. I am sick and tired of everyone just assuming that they know everything there is to know about me. Well guess what? No one could possibly know everything about me if they spent an entire lifetime trying to figure me out.”

Mystique frowned. “So that’s it, then? You’re just going to walk away from the fight that you need to be a part of? Someone is going to get you on their side eventually, and my side really really hates losing, even if it is something as simple as a weak little mutant.”

Vera scoffed. “I’m not a mutant, for one. And for two, clearly you know that I’m not some weakling, or someone who’s clearly so high up in the ranks wouldn’t have been sent to take me in. But it doesn’t matter either way, because there is no way I’d ever want to go with you, anywhere. I’m happy where I am, and I’d like to leave things that way, thank you very much.”

Rather than seeming even more upset, Mystique just smirked. “I was almost hoping that you would say that.” There was a whistling noise, and then a sharp sting in the side of Vera’s neck. She blinked a few times, and the world began to get blurry. She realized that she couldn’t see any of her ghosts anymore. She was powerless against these people.

Vera had to watch in silence as Mystique shifted in an instant to look just like Vera. Vera’s eyes widened, and she struggled to keep standing upright. She knew that this woman, or whatever she was, wasn’t working with Charles and his people. Vera wasn’t sure how she knew that, but she did know it. It was almost too bad that Charles couldn’t detect Vera’s mind, for whatever reason, because she’d rather take her chances with him. At least he didn’t want to impersonate Vera to do god-knows-what, and drug Vera, and cut her off from her ghosts.

The fake Vera maneuvered Vera’s limp arms into a jacket, which then lifted her off the ground, and floated away in the opposite direction of her trailer and of her friends. Vera tried to wiggle around, but there wasn’t much space to move about in, since she seemed to be floating by nothing other than the power of this jacket.

Vera wanted to open her mouth and call out for help, but her lips were too heavy, and no words would come out. Finally, she let her eyes slide shut. If she was being taken away on suspicion of being a mutant, then she’d be able to use her ghosts to get back home easily enough. And considering the fact that these people hadn’t even known that her father was a mutant, it didn’t seem likely that they knew anything about what Vera could do. Vera let her mind slip away. She’d need all the energy she could get for an escape, so fighting against whatever she’d been drugged with wasn’t a smart move. Whoever these people were, they’d regret this day for the rest of their lives. Vera would make sure of that.


	8. Chapter 8

When Vera returned to consciousness, the first thing she knew was that she had a massive headache, and her arms were sore. She wanted to reach up to rub her forehead, but her hands didn’t seem to want to go anywhere. She opened her eyes, and saw that she was lying on a foreign bed, still wearing the jacket that Mystique had slipped onto her.

She looked around, and still couldn’t find her ghosts. That was rather concerning. A moment later, the door in front of her opened, and a man strode in. Vera immediately squeezed her eyes shut. He looked down at Vera apologetically. “I am sorry that it came down to this. I’m eager to learn what your mutation is, but so far, you’re proving to be an anomaly.” When Vera didn’t say anything, he just shrugged. “Don’t worry, I enjoy a good mystery. Don’t bother using your mutation right now. You’ve got a nice little drug cocktail floating around in you. It’ll wear off soon enough, but for now, you’re stuck.”

Vera frowned. “Why can’t I move? I don’t feel numb or dizzy or anything. At least, I don’t anymore.”

The man smiled. “The jacket. It’s lined entirely with little strips of metal. Which means that I can have the wearer of the jacket do whatever I need them to.” He sighed. “How terribly rude of me. I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Erik.” He sat down on the edge of the bed. “See, I had my telepath go fishing in your head for information, but she couldn’t find anything. At all. I feared that the drugs reacted badly and killed you, except for the fact that you were still breathing just fine. I wonder why that is?”

Vera shrugged. “Hell if I know. I’ve never met a telepath before. I didn’t even know you liked to give individual names to your freakish abilities. Then again, I suppose that you’d have to, since you’re a freak as well.”

Erik furrowed his eyebrows. “Mystique told me, but I didn’t think that it could actually be true. Why do you hate mutants so much?”

Vera decided to ignore the question, and tried to imagine what the owner of that voice looked like. He’d said that her mutation was being blocked right now, or whatever, but she really wasn’t in the mood to risk it. “Why did you have Mystique look like me?”

Erik was probably frowning, annoyed that Vera wasn’t easily playing along with him. “She told your friends that the man who showed up really was your father, and that you wanted to try having a life with him. She grabbed what seemed like the most essential things from your trailer, and told them to move on without you. Then she came back here. We’ve still got the things she grabbed, if you want any of them.”

The girl wiggled her arms fruitlessly for a moment. “I want to not be bound up.” A moment later, Vera could feel the slack. She immediately started to take off the jacket, and Erik tsked. She sighed, but left the jacket on. It was all zipped up anyways, so it’s not like Vera could get it off if Erik didn’t want her to. “Do you have my sunglasses?”

The kidnapper sounded a bit confused. “Yes. Is that really going to be your first priority in this situation?” When Vera nodded, he just sighed, and a moment later, she felt the glasses being pushed into one of her hands. She reached up to slide them on, then opened her eyes, and took in the man for the first time. “Perhaps you’d feel better if you got the chance to walk around a little bit?”

Vera sighed, and got up. She swayed back and forth for a moment, but then was able to get herself under control. Vera already knew from experience that there’s no way anyone could see her eyes through the tinted shades of her glasses. Which was a relief, because Vera wanted to be able to get out of this place in one piece, which meant not having people falling all over her like a bunch of addicts looking for their next hit.

Vera followed Erik out of the little bedroom, and into the hallway. She looked around, wondering which part of this was supposed to impress her. It looked like a warehouse building, and peering in the rooms with open doors as they walked past, it seemed that most rooms didn’t even have as much as the one Vera had woken up in.

“So who are you people, anyways? Besides being a whole bunch of weirdo mutants, I mean.”

Erik looked aggravated, but he didn’t let his annoyance come through in his words. “We call ourselves the Brotherhood of Mutants. It’s our mission to allow the mutants to rise up and take their rightful place over the regular humans. We were born superior not so we could live in fear and hiding, but so that we could be the superior species.”

The girl shuttered. “That sounds eerily identical to what Mystique said back at the fairgrounds. I’m starting to think that you guys have all just memorized the pamphlet.” Vera couldn’t help the said look that crossed her face. “I can’t believe that I’m never going to see my family again.”

Erik frowned. “I thought that you ran away from your family?”

Vera shook her head. “The carnival, or circus, or whatever you want to call it. Those people raised me from the ground up. I’m only who I am today because of them. They’re my family, and I love them all so much. And now I’m never going to see them again, thanks to you.” She stopped walking in the middle of the hallway. “Why am I really here? I’m not even a mutant. And either way, isn’t kidnapping someone to make them join your creepy organization a bit much? I mean, how do you expect me to like you when you’ve just dragged me away from the only people I’ve ever really cared about?” Vera’s eyes slid to the side, though of course Erik couldn’t see that, as she saw movement out of the corner of her eye. There was Roger, looking slightly put out. Vera sighed. “Most of the only people I’ve ever really cared about?”

Erik turned to face Vera. “Listen, there is a war brewing. We already know that much. And we also know that you’re the one deciding factor. Whoever’s got you on their side is guaranteed to be the winner.”

The girl put her hands on her hips. “Oh yeah? Says who? Who decided that I have to be the one who helps win this war? This war which, may I remind you, I’m not even a part of? Because I’d really like to meet this person, and then kick their ass. I don’t want anything to do with any of these mutant spats. I’m not a part of this.” 

The kidnapper narrowed his eyes. “I’ve already spoken with Mystique. You told her yourself that your father was a dangerous mutant. It’s why he left you behind, right? Well, don’t you want to create a world where it’s safe for fathers to stay with their families? A world where mutations don’t have to be something to be feared?”

Vera scoffed. “Oh come on, I’m not stupid. You obviously want all mutants to be feared. You’d rather be feared by your enemies and respected by your allies, right? Anyways, there’s no way you can look at it and think that my father was safe to be around, by any standards. He could create black holes. Imagine if he stayed. He gets emotional when he sees my first steps or something, and the next thing he’d know, me and half the town would be sucked up into space before he gets himself under control. There’s no way that that could end well.”

Erik tilted his head. “If he left before you were even born, how did you know that he’s a mutant?”

The girl shrugged. “My mother didn’t think it would be good to hide something like that from me. She wanted me to know that my father didn’t leave because he was just an asshole, or something like that. Anyways, I went through a lot of work to track him down, and I ended up finding that he had died a while back. Nothing I could do about that.”

While Erik continued to ramble on about why his brotherhood was so cool, Vera closed her eyes, and focused on the ghost that was still in Charles’s mansion. She wasn’t sure how to use him exactly. So she had him walk into Charles, and stand there, even as the man got severe shivers from it. Vera would’ve felt bad, but she couldn’t think of any other way to get herself out of her current predicament.

Then again, there wasn’t really any proof that Charles would know what the shiver of the ghosts meant. It’s not like Vera had gone and advertised her unique talent to the house full of mutants. At least Vera wasn’t alone here, though. She had her father by her side. 

Roger smiled comfortingly at his daughter. “Don’t worry. We’ll figure out how to get you out of here. How about I possess him and use his ability to set you free, and then let you out?” Vera gave a very subtle shake of her head. “You’re right. I suppose. Possession is much more immoral than kidnapping a young girl. What was I thinking?”

Vera rolled her eyes. “So what do you have against humans, anyways? I mean, mutations, at least to your extent, is still a fairly new disease. Which means I’m going to assume that your parents were humans.” She tilted her head thoughtfully. “Then again, you do look like the sort of guy to have serious mommy issues. Is that what this is all about?”

Erik clenched his jaw. “I’d suggest that you find something else to talk about if you want to continue to have the privilege of free movement.”

Vera chuckled, and Roger gave her a warning look. “It’s really best to not provoke the guy in charge of a bunch of mutants. Anyways, how bad is a full possession really? I mean, you’re always okay with those quick possessions that are just enough for you to get the information you need. If you’re going to play the full possession card, then it should be saved for an emergency situation. And this is definitely an emergency situation. Please?”

Vera gave another subtle shake of her head. She’d learned a while ago that ghosts weren’t actually capable of possessing bodies on their own. They needed her to do it, and then she’d have total control. She could have control over the ghosts too, when she wanted, but it wasn’t usually necessary. Most of them were satisfied just knowing that they had someone living to talk to and keep them connected to the world. It was really a win-win.

Apparently Vera’s head movements hadn’t been quite as hidden as she’d thought they were. “What? You don’t want to listen to me?”

Vera turned to look at Erik, having completely forgotten that he was still standing there. Of course she hadn’t really forgotten about him. If she had, she probably would’ve stupidly gone and tried to respond to some of the things her father was saying. She wanted to be able to explain to him what a total violation it would be to totally take over a person’s body. She’d only ever done a full possession once in her whole life, and that was on her mother. 

And while nothing truly horrible had come of it, as she’d saved her mother’s life and made sure that no one would bother that woman about having a freak for a daughter again. Vera cleared her throat. “It’s not that. I just don’t think that you have very good policies around here.”

Roger sighed. “And by the way, when I said that you shouldn’t go around telling people that you’re a mutant, I didn’t mean that you should keep it to yourself upon threats of death or torture. And it is a bit hurtful when you say that mutants are freaks. You know that.”

Vera did know that. She was the one who’d figured out that just denying that she was a mutant wasn’t enough. She had to prove to everyone that she had no loyalty to those abominations. Which meant she’d had to adopt a mindset where she was utterly convinced that mutants were disgusting freaks. It was the only way she’d been able to survive for so long.

The kidnapper sighed. “You seem tired. Maybe I should take you back to your room. And I really do hope that you’ll share your mutation with me. Because I really doubt that your entire mutation revolves around your brain being unreadable. And according to my telepath, it’s not just unreadable. It’s non-existent as far as she can tell. Like you’re not even alive. I really want to know about the rest of your mutation.”

Vera fixed her face to look totally disgusted. “Dude, how many times do I have to say it? I’m not a mutant. I don’t have a mutation. Mutants are horribly revolting freaks. What more do you want to hear before you realize how much better off you are just sending me back home?”

They arrived back at the room that Vera had woken up in. There was now a duffle bag resting on top of the blankets. “Those are the things that Mystique grabbed for you from your trailer. If you need anything else, just let someone know. Don’t worry, it won’t be hard to find anyone around here. I’m sure that everyone will be so anxious to meet you that they’ll just be waiting by your door.”

Vera wasn’t an idiot. She knew that that was her captor’s way of saying that she was going to be under constant guard to avoid having her escape. And she was going to play along like a good little prisoner if she didn’t want to find herself immobile again. It was definitely a bitch of a situation. So Vera played along, and let herself be manhandled back into the room. No one made any move to help her out of the jacket. 

Vera walked over to the bed and unzipped the duffle bag. She tipped it upside down to empty everything out, just to see what exactly had been preserved from almost her entire life’s worth of belongings.

There were a few sets of clothing, which made sense. A pair of sneakers and a pair of boots. Her kindle, though there was probably no wifi access for her here, so that she couldn’t call for help. A flashlight. A sketchbook and some pencils. Vera sifted through the pile of things, and saw a small wooden box, completely plain other than the tiny gem on top.

Vera felt around her neck, and found that she was still wearing her necklace with her key on it. She pulled the necklace up, and used it to unlock the box. Inside was a tiny bracelet that had fit on four-year-old Vera’s wrist. Beneath that was an old picture. It showed a younger Lola, hugging a baby tightly. There was a look of joy on her face as she kissed the squirmy baby’s forehead.

That picture had been taken before anyone else had had a chance to meet Vera. It was probably the only picture where Vera wasn’t wearing dark sunglasses. Lola had always been unaffected by Vera’s gaze. 

Vera pulled the picture out carefully, and then the bracelet. She looked at them like they were the most precious items in the world, and to her, they really were. After a minute, the teen carefully put the photo back down, and then the jewelry on top. She closed the box and locked it up, then tucked the key back under her shirt.

It was actually possible that Erik didn’t know about the key. The chain was metal, so he could assume that she was wearing a metal necklace, but the key was made of diamond. It was extravagant, but Vera had known that the two things she needed to protect were worth every bit of protection she gave them. All it had taken was flashing her eyes at a jeweler, with promises to do it again if he did what Vera wanted. She didn’t even need to possess people who were weak willed. They’d do whatever she said just to torture themselves further.

Vera pushed the box under the pile of clothes, and saw that there wasn’t anything else in the bag. Which was a bit weird, because Vera would’ve expected Shaun to have made her a goodbye card, at least. Apparently he hadn’t really cared that much after all.

Vera curled up into a ball, and squeezed her eyes tightly shut. She pulled off her sunglasses and resisted the urge to fling them across the room, if only because she had no assurance that they’d be replaced if they were to break. Then she cried for a while, because there was really nothing else to do. 

When Vera had been very young, she’d made the decision to walk away from a woman who loved her, in order to protect that woman. And it had hurt like hell. But Vera hadn’t known just how much more it would hurt to know that right now she couldn’t return home because someone wasn’t letting her. She couldn’t wander back whenever she was done being on her own. So Vera cried, and her father sat next to her and rubbed comforting circles on her back. If she could feel it at all it was simply in her imagination, but it was much better than having nothing.


	9. Chapter 9

Charles motioned towards the study, and Peter gave him a dubious look, but he did step inside. Charles moved a little closer, staying right behind his student, though he was careful to not accidentally run the younger man over. “There! Did you feel it?”

Peter rolled his eyes, and took another few cautious steps forward. Then he shivered violently as it suddenly felt like he’d stepped into a freezer. He took a step back and was no longer cold, though there were still goosebumps raised on his arms. He glanced back at Charles. “So you’ve got a bit of a draft in here. It’s not really that big of a deal, is it?”

Charles shook his head. “There’s no way that that’s a draft. All of the windows in here are closed, I double checked. That’s got to be something else.”

Peter scoffed. “Yeah? Like what?”

The professor narrowed his eyes. “I think that the mansion might be haunted.”

That startled a laugh out of Peter. “I’m sorry, but seriously? Ghosts aren’t real, Professor. You’re supposed to stop believing in them when you’re still a little kid, aren’t you?”

Charles arched one eyebrow. “You can run faster than the speed of sound, and your sister can do all kinds of weird stuff, and I can read minds, but you’re telling me that ghosts are impossible?” He sighed. “Kids these days.”

Peter crossed his arms over his chest. “Okay then, let’s say, just for the sake of argument, that ghosts do exist. Why would there be someone haunting the mansion? Has anyone died here? Is there anyone who’s got some passion for vengeance against you?” He winced. “Okay, bad choice of words. Is there anyone dead who would want vengeance? Okay, that’s also too vague. Well, you’re the only one here who has dead enemies, so if there is a ghost around here, then it’s definitely after you. And in that case, I am much better off just running away from you as quickly as possible. And in my case, that is pretty quick.”

Charles frowned. “If there is a ghost haunting us, for whatever reason, then it’s kind of our job to take care of it before it can become a danger to the children. Please, just look around, or something? I’m not really sure what the proper protocols are when it comes to exterminating a ghost.”

Peter raised one eyebrow. “You know, I’m a bit surprised, Professor. I would’ve expected you to want to talk to it and figure out its motives, or something. I wouldn’t think that you’d support just killing it without knowing anything about why it’s actually here. I thought you were a pacifist?”

Charles nodded absent mindedly. “While that may be technically true, there’s also the fact of-” 

“You’re scared, aren’t you?” Charles jumped up a bit at the sound of a voice behind him, and turned to see Wanda standing in the doorway to his office, her arms crossed over her chest. There was an amused look on her face that Charles did not appreciate. “It’s okay, Professor. Everybody’s scared of something.”

Charles huffed. “I’m not scared of ghosts, thank you very much. I just don’t appreciate them getting into my space and forcing us to pay for more heat. Do you know how expensive that stuff is?”

The twins both laughed. “You’re like a bazillionaire. I’m pretty sure that you don’t need to worry about your heating bill.”

Charles looked around the office again. “Okay, fine, I’ll admit that I’m a bit nervous. We don’t know anything about this thing.”

Wanda poked Charles in the arm. “You know that it’s rude to call a ghost a ‘thing’ because it was once a person, right?”

Charles rolled his eyes. “Fine. You two can have fun dealing with our spectre issue, and I’ll go and do something else. Somewhere on the other side of the mansion, probably-” he shivered violently. “Oh god, I think it’s standing right in the same spot as me. That’s totally got to be considered cheating, doesn’t it? I mean, is it even allowed to do that?”

Wanda shrugged carelessly. “I don’t think that ghosts are really required to follow any specific rules. And if they don’t have any rules, then they aren’t cheating or breaking the rules, right?”

Charles sighed. “Can someone please do something before I catch pneumonia and die?”

Peter chuckled. “Oh come on, there’s no reason to be so dramatic, Professor. I’m sure that you’re not going to die from some ghostly cold. Just chill out.” He paused for a moment, then snickered. “Eh, chill out. I think I might be some kind of genius.”

Wanda shook her head. “How can you say that while you’re in the presence of an actual genius? I mean, Charles Xavier is clearly an amazingly smart genius, because if he wasn’t, he might think that ghosts are scary or something, and… oh wait.”

Charles squeezed his hands into fists to stop himself from flipping the younger woman off. Then the shivers stopped, and it was suddenly Peter who was shivering. That stopped him from laughing. He ran to the other side of the room to get away, and his eyes widened. “That was totally freaky. Maybe you’re right, Professor. Maybe there really is a ghost haunting our mansion.”

The twins exchanged an uncertain look. It was one thing to make fun of Charles for thinking that there was a ghost in the room, but it was a whole other matter to actually think that there was a ghost there for themselves. Wanda took a step forward, and closed her eyes. Charles and Peter both knew better than to ask her what she was doing, and risk breaking her concentration.

After a moment, she bit her lip, and gasped. “Ah!” She reached forward, and wrapped her hand around something that wasn’t there. A moment later, there was a young woman standing there next to Wanda. She was the same height as Wanda, with short brown hair that came off of her head in messy spikes. 

She looked just as surprised as the other three occupants of the room. Wanda squeezed her hand tighter, and it went right through the stranger’s wrist. The stranger leapt back, and looked around at the three mutants. “How can you see me?”

Wanda shrugged. “I think that I did that. I’m good enough at making people see things that aren’t there, so imagine how good I must be at making people see things that are there.”

Charles didn’t try to move any closer to the young woman. “Who are you? How did you get in here?”

The woman shook her head. “There isn’t time for any of those pleasantries. My friend is in trouble, and as much as she hates to admit it, you’re probably the only ones who can actually help her at the moment.”

“What friend? What’s going on?”

The stranger clenched her jaw in annoyance. “Her name is Vera, you’ve met her before. You’re earlier presumption that I’m a ghost is correct. I’ve been dead nearly fifty years now. And Vera is now in trouble. She’s been taken captive by someone who’s bad, and she wanted me to get your attention. I never imagined that it would work out so well as to let me actually speak with you.”

Peter stared at the stranger. “If you died half a century ago, how do you know Vera? She looks very young.”

“It’s her mutation, okay? She can see us. All of us.”

Charles immediately looked around the room nervously. “There’s more?” 

The stranger rolled her eyes. “Of course. What, you think that I’m special enough to be the only person ever to not just move on after death? Nobody ‘moves on’ or whatever. Well, they do eventually, but no one gets to keep going right away. Some take a few days, some may take a few centuries, but we all have to revert back to being like this first. Now can we please go and rescue Vera? She’s freaking out.”

Charles looked intrigued. Not by the thought of ghosts, but about hearing about Vera’s mutation. It was one of the more fascinating ones that he’d now had the luck to encounter. “You have a steady communication with her?”

The stranger narrowed her eyes. “Not directly talking. I just know what she wants from me. The reason I’m here is because she dropped me off here to spy on you. If you started to get too concerned about her, I’d go and tell her, and she’d figure something out from there. But none of that matters right now. All that matters is that she’s in trouble and there’s no one else to turn to. Please.” She looked at Charles with wide eyes, hoping to wring some compassion out of him. “Please.”

Charles sighed, then nodded. “I suppose that it is our duty to protect fellow mutants, no matter how sickeningly hateful they might be. So where is she? Who’s got her?”

“Some dude named Erik. He said that he’s with some group called the Brotherhood of Mutants. As far as I can tell, he believes that Vera’s presence is crucial to him being able to win the petty little fight that you’ve got going on between you two. I guess it does make sense. He can kill as many people as he wants, and then with Vera’s help, he’d be able to control their spirits once they’re dead, too.”

Peter whistled appreciatively. “You mean that she can actually control ghosts? That’s so frickin’ cool. Why wouldn’t she want to own up to being able to do something so cool?”

The stranger shrugged. “Just a bit of advice her mutant father gave her once she met him for the first time. He abandoned Vera and her mom because he thought it was too dangerous to be around them. Then when Vera also abandoned her mom, for similar reasons, she ended up finding her dad, and finding that he was dead. He told her that it would be best for everyone if she didn’t go around announcing herself to be a mutant. She interpreted that as hate mutants as much as possible and deny that she is one even upon threat of death. Now can we please get going?”

There was such a desperate sound in the woman’s voice, and everyone could hear it. Charles nodded. “Let’s go then.” And then he muttered, “I can’t believe Erik is still causing so much trouble,” under his breath. 

Peter zipped around to the other (semi) responsible adults in the school to inform them that Charles, Wanda, and himself were going on a little field trip, and not to be concerned. Which of course immediately concerned everyone, but Peter kept disappearing before anyone had the chance to ask him what the hell was going on.

A few minutes later, the three living and one dead person were all packed into a little car, and Wanda drove. Peter had volunteered, but even the already dead girl didn’t trust his driving skills. After a few minutes, the stranger had directed them to a highway, and told Wanda to just drive straight ahead for a bit. Charles turned to the girl who was standing in the car, her legs going right through the floor. “You’ve got to have a name or something for us to call you by, right?” 

The stranger shrugged. “If it’ll make things easier for you to rescue Vera, then you can call me Mobi.”

Peter glanced back from the front passenger seat. “That’s an interesting sounding name. Does it mean anything?”

Mobi frowned. “Yes, it means I want you to drive faster and focus on rescuing Vera rather than asking me inane questions, if that’s alright with you.”

It was a few hours later, after many confusing twists and backroads and non-existent roads, that Mobi told Wanda to slow down, and start being more cautious. Anything could happen around here. They got a little further, and Mobi told them to just stop, because there’s no way that they would be able to sneak around in a car. 

Peter offered to just run them all down there before anyone even noticed the car or anything. Mobi closed her eyes, and looked like she was doing the ghostly equivalent of taking a deep breath to try and stay calm. “That wouldn’t work. This Erik guy is smart, and has all kinds of safeguards all over the place, specifically designed to keep unwanted mutants away. If you just run in without trying to use your brain at all first, then you’ll end up dead. Then you can come in to see Vera with me.”

Peter held his hands up in surrender. “Alright, so we can’t just rush in. So what can we do?”

Mobi sighed without actually breathing out any air. “Well, there’s only one thing I can think of to even get us through the front door. Not sure how much you’ll like the idea, though.” They all looked at her, motioning for her to just say whatever it was that was going through her mind. “Well, I’m a ghost, right? And I’m sure you’ve seen enough movies to know that ghosts can possess people? Because we can.”

Charles immediately shook his head. “That would be supremely immoral, to be able to just hop into somebody’s body and take control without their permission.”

Mobi shrugged. “Well, the thing is, we do need permission. Normally, Vera would be the only one who could get people to give permission. Sort of. One look into her eyes and most living people get so out of it that they don’t even notice that they’re giving us their consent. But now we’ve got you. You can use your telepathy, or whatever, to force one of the guards to give permission. Then I can slip into his body, and make my way to the front doors to open them.”

Charles frowned. “If we were going to do that, wouldn’t it make more sense to just have me control the guard into opening the doors?”

Mobi shook her head. “No way. Specifically to prevent you from being able to do that, none of the guards can open the doors without one of the head mutants. But if you control the guard, it’ll be immediately obvious to the people who clearly seem to know you. I could just take his body for a quick ride, and have you guys create a distraction so the guard will want to open the doors of his own free will. Once the doors are open and the defenses are shut down, Blondie can zip in, grab Vera, and zip out. The whole thing shouldn’t take any more than ten minutes or so.”

Charles frowned. “This seems like a very oddly convoluted and roundabout way to do things. There’s got to be a better choice out there somewhere. Some other plan that at least makes a little bit of sense.”

Mobi shrugged. “If there is, then I hope you can come up with it quickly enough that I can avoid losing my only conduit to this stupid planet.”

Wanda looked offended. “What about me? Aren’t I conduiting even better than Vera since I’m making you visible and audible to all of the people around you?”

Mobi shook her head flatly. “No. Not even close. You’ve only opened their eyes, not made me any easier to see. And Vera could let the people around her see us, but she chooses not to because it would only make things more complicated for everyone around her. Besides that, you aren’t my friend. Vera will always have that over you.”

Peter shrugged. “She doesn’t seem like a very pleasant person to be around. I’m not sure why you’d want to be her friend, if I’m being honest. You might be better off just staying invisible to everyone.”

Mobi narrowed her eyes and scowled. “You don’t know nearly enough about Vera to begin making judgements about her character. She’s had to make tough decisions and cast aside a central piece of herself just so that she could survive. Have you forgotten about that? About the fact that pride in yourself isn’t worth shit when it’ll get you killed?” She glared at the three mutants. “Vera has done what she’s had to, and nothing more. She deserves to be happy, just like anyone else. And her happiness might involve forgetting that she’s a mutant. So what? She’s a good person. A kind person. She’s never let me down. She’s never let any of us down.”

Peter nodded. “Wow, okay, I get it. There’s no need to jump down my throat over it.”

Mobi frowned. “Whatever. Let’s just get this over with. I’ve got a friend I need to get back to.” She faced the large building with disgust in my eyes. “Let’s get Vera back from those bastards.”

**Author's Note:**

> I've decided to do some editing and cleaning up on this story so it might be slightly different than the version on ff cuz i'm too lazy to reupload, but the plot and important stuff is still gonna stay the same.


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